The news of the summer of 2011 was certainly the Google buyout of Motorola, that set them back $12.4 billion. Now it appears that Moto actually has to offer merely $5.5 billion worth of patents and intelectual property. So, was it actually worth it for Google? Let’s find out in the following lines.

First of all, this figure came up during a regulatory filing this Tuesday. The transaction was completed successfully in May, as the antitrust investigations were cleared. While Google said for a long time that they bought Moto for their patents, there was a piece of news last year, saying that the maker of the RAZR had sold its valuable patents long before the search engine giant bought them. Android OS is open for attacks and you already saw that, with Samsung and HTC being constantly sued by Apple.

Microsoft also wants a piece of the Android pie, since it does make a few bucks with each model sold, but it may want more. This is why Google needed the company that invented the cellphone by its side. But at what cost? One cost is the slowing down of the Motorola Mobility rhythm. We were used to seeing them launch a few phones and tablets every once in a while, but in 2012 I can’t think of a single model that stands out, which is sad. Moto is clearly in transition now and hopefully they won’t become just another branch of Google…